Bruce Springsteen Darkness on the Edge of Town released

Darkness on the Edge of Town Bruce Springsteen

Released: June 2, 1978 Peak: 5 US, 16 UK, 7 CN, 9 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 3.0 US, 0.1 UK, 5.5 world (includes US and UK), 8.5 EAS Genre: classic rock

Tracks: Click on a song titled for more details. Badlands [4:04] Adam Raised a Cain [4:34] Something in the Night [5:14] Candy’s Room [5:14] Racing in the Street [6:54] The Promised Land [4:29] Factory [2:19] Streets of Fire [4:03] Prove It All Night [4:01] Darkness on the Edge of Town [4:29] Total Running Time: 42:55 The Players: Bruce Springsteen (vocals, guitar, harmonica, producer) Roy Bittan (piano, backing vocals) Clarence Clemons (saxophone, backing vocals) Danny Federici (Hammond organ, glockenspiel) Garry Tallent (bass) Steven Van Zandt (rhythm guitar, backing vocals, production assistance) Max Weinberg (drums)

Rating: 4.530 out of 5.00 (average of 29 ratings) Quotable: “Material that mined [Springsteen’s] blue-collar roots with a vitality he never topped.” – Blender Magazine Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album “Coming three years and one extended court battle after” AM “the grandiose Born to Run (1975) [which] proved Springsteen was far more than just another New Dylan,” BL “Darkness on the Edge of Town was highly anticipated.” AM “Some attributed the album’s embattled tone to Bruce Springsteen’s legal troubles, but it carried on from Born to Run, in which Springsteen had first begun to view his colorful cast of characters as ‘losers.’ On Darkness, he began to see them as the working class” AM and he subsequently “crafted material that mined his blue-collar roots with a vitality he never topped.” BL “His characters, some of whom he inhabited and sang for in the first person, had little and were in danger of losing even that. Their only hope for redemption lay in working harder, and their only escape lay in driving.” AM “Springsteen presented these hard truths in hard rock settings, the tracks paced by powerful drumming and searing guitar solos. Though not as heavily produced as Born to Run, Darkness was given a full-bodied sound; Springsteen’s stories were becoming less heroic, but his musical style remained grand – the sound, and the conviction in his singing, added weight to songs like Racing in the Street and the title track, transforming the pathetic into the tragic. But despite the rock & roll fervor, Darkness was no easy listen, and it served notice that Springsteen was already willing to risk his popularity for his principles.” AM The Songs Here’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs.

Badlands Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: 7/13/1977, 8/4/1977, 12/12/1977, 2/22/1978, 2/23/1978, and 2/25/1978 at the Record Plant in New York Released: 7/21/1978 as a single, Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) Peak: 42 BB, 52 CB, 47 HR, 6 CL, 44 CN, 9 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 85.06 streaming About the Song: Since Born to Run, the characters in Bruce’s songs “had developed: having reached adulthood they seemed to lave lost many of their illusions.” MG-110 Bruce was inspired here by the 1973 Terrence Malick movie Badlands starring Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek, and Warren Oates. The movie is about “two young lovers who…go on the run and sow death around them.” MG-110 They hail from a small South Dakota town. That state and Nebraska are part of the United States region known as the Badlands. Musically, the song “introduces…the band’s new sound quality.” MG-112 It is “striking for its sense of urgency, but also for its dynamism.” MG-112 While “far from the sound of the London punks…Springsteen…understood the message of the ‘no-future’ generation and distilled it in his own way.” MG-112 It is based on the riff of the 1965 song “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” by the Animals. It has become “one of his great signature songs.” MG-112

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Adam Raised a Cain Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: 11/9/1977, 12/15/1977, and February 15-17, 1978 at the Record Plant in New York Released: Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) Peak: 42 CL, 26 DF Click for codes to charts. Covered by: Alabama Shakes (2013) About the Song: “Adam Raised a Cain” was “the first in a years-long series of songwriting as therapy that begins with an attempt to untangle what we inherit from our parents from what we determine for ourselves.” ESS It was inspired by the 1955 movie East of Eden, which is loosely based on the Biblical story of Adam and his sons Cain and Abel. In the movie, Cal (the stand-in for Cain) doesn’t directly murder his brother, but does set in motion the trauma that sends him off to war where he is killed. Bruce’s tale doesn’t focus on sibling rivalry or murder, but “Cal’s lack of self-worth, his resentment toward his father, and the emotional gulf that had grown between them.” ESS Like Cal, Bruce “felt emotionally estranged from his father, desperately seeking his approval but always feeling like he’d fallen short.” ESS Musically, the song features “one of his most blistering guitar solos on record, an ominous organ-driven stomp of a riff, and call-and-response backing vocals that sound more haunting than haunted.” ESS

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Something in the Night Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: 6/1/1977, 6/14/1977, and 6/16/1977 at Atlantic Studios in New York; September to December 1977 (?) and 2/27/1978 at the Record Plant in New York Released: Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) About the Song: “It’s almost impossible to listen to ‘Something in the Night’ and not hear…a subconscious cry for help” ESS but it “did not start its life as the soul-crushing cry it evolved into.” ESS It was “a somewhat romantic me-and-her-against-the-world that would have sounded at least as much at home (if not more) on Born to Run than on Darkness on the Edge of Town.” ESS “The night represented promise, and Bruce’s characters were in search of its secrets.” ESS In August 1976, Mike Appel (Springsteen’s former manager) won a preliminary injunction that prevented Bruce from recording new music. A month later, Bruce lost his appeal and had to hit the road again to earn money. In subsequent live performances of “Something in the Night” the lyrics “grew progressively darker and angrier.” ESS “It requires credulity to suggest that those lines weren’t informed by Bruce’s anger at the time.” ESS By February 1977, the song “was re-arranged in its close-to-final form, its lyrics still filled with anger but now also with resignation.” ESS The narrator “had surrendered to despair.” ESS The musical arrangement also took a “definitive turn toward the dark…with the E Street Band conjuring a brooding, simmering, rumbling, and finally exploding eruption of an introduction, all accompanied by Bruce’s wordless howls that convey…anguish and emotion.” ESS

Candy’s Room Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: September to December 1977 and March 3-5, 1978 at the Record Plant in New York Released: Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) Peak: 11 CL, 16 DF Click for codes to charts. About the Song: “Candy’s Room” merged a couple of other Springsteen songs, “Candy’s Boy” (which was eventually released on The Promise in 2010) and “The Fast Song” (no official release). There has been speculation over Candy and who she was. A prostitute? A former girlfriend? When asked in 2010, Bruce laughed and said, “Does it matter? Does it really matter? I’ll never tell.” ESS “A fair argument can be made that Candy is a composite more than a character.” ESS “The Candy-as-courtesan interpretation supports the central conceit of the entire Darkness on the Edge of Town album: that even in the darkest of circumstance and context, Bruce’s characters cling to romance and idealism.” ESS “For a song pieced together from parts, it’s astounding how well the final lyrics and music reflect each other. In large part, this is because Bruce abandons concern with meter and form, delivering his vocals in spoken-word for much of the song, and matching the music’s flourishes.” ESS

Racing in the Street Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: 7/2/1977 and August 1977 at Altantic Studios in New York; August 1977, November 28-30, 1977, 12/6/1977, 12/9/1977, 3/21/1978, and 3/23/1978 at the Record Plant in New York Released: Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978), ’78 version: The Promise (1978/2010) About the Song: “What happens after you win?” ESS Answering that question led Bruce “away from his romantic Born to Run songwriting and opened a darker, realistic vein” ESS on songs like “Racing in the Street,” which “still stands as one of his crowning songwriting achievements.” ESS “There was still one big throughline: the getaway car.” ESS However, “in ‘Racing in the Street,’ the car still offers escape, but only for and in the moment…a short-lived high to distract from the long, dull sameness of his life.” ESS “Does our narrator go racing every night because he’s dying by degrees, or in defiance of it?” ESS “’Racing in the Street’ is such a poetic accomplishment that it’s easy to overlook its backing track when discussing it.” ESS The song “wouldn’t work without the gradual entrance of the band members as the narrator retreats into his inner life.” ESS An early version of “Racing in the Street” was released on The Promise in 2010. It “features different words; David Lindley’s violin makes the track a bit less personal, more anthemic; it’s absent the shadow of doubt that makes the Darkness version so devastating emotionally.” TJ

The Promised Land Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: 9/30/1977, 10/27/1977, 12/1/1977, 12/27/1977, and May 1978 at the Record Plant in New York Released: 10/13/1978 as a single (UK), Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) Peak: 21, CL, 17 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 33.12 streaming About the Song: “The Promised Land” is about a man who “idles his life away a day at a time, somewhere out in a remote area of a remote state. He holds no power, he exerts no control over his life.” ESS “What do you do when the person you’re supposed to be isn’t the person you want to be?” ESS The narrator feels trapped; he is “running from than running toward.” ESS Despite that, the narrator “still believes that somewhere, somewhere, there’s a promised land where he can realize his potential. If only he knew where, and how to get there.” ESS

Factory Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: September to December 1977, 1/2/1978, 3/10/1978, 3/14/1978 at the Record Plant in New York Released: 5/23/1978 as the B-side of “Prove It All Night,” Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) About the Song: “This is clearly an autobiographical song. Bruce is usually coy about how much a given song is drawn from reality, but we certainly know that his dad worked in a factory.” ESS Musically, “Factory” is marked by “lyrical economy, the dance between Danny’s organ and Roy’s piano, the way the Bruce’s vocals and Max’s incessant drumbeat combine to drive home the world-weariness and rut that is at the very heart of the song, the way Bruce double-tracks his vocals on the last line of each verse – one high, one low to represent both the blessing and curse of factory work…this is a stunning piece of work – and barely more than two minutes in length!” ESS

Streets of Fire Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: August 1977, December 1977, 4/5/1978 at the Record Plant in New York Released: 7/21/1978 as the B-side of “Badlands,” 10/13/1978 as the B-side of “The Promised Land” (UK), Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) Peak: 31 DF Click for codes to charts. About the Song: “’Streets of Fire’ isn’t a song you hear. It’s a song you feel.” ESS It “is a song of despair and self-loathing and alienation and surrender.” ESS But “don’t listen to the words. They don’t matter. Just listen to the voice.” ESS “’Streets of Fire’ is four minutes of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band dialed into something primal, a place of power in a vinyl groove.” ESS

Prove It All Night Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: 9/12/1977, 9/14/1977, and 9/16/1977 at the Record Plant in New York Released: 5/23/1978 as a single, Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) Peak: 33 BB, 53 CB, 46 HR, 7 CL, 57 CN, 90 AU, 16 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 23.89 streaming About the Song: “’Prove It All Night’ is more than just rock’s most ferocious wedding song; it’s a credo that runs throughout the entire Darkness on the Edge of Town album” ESS but “with greater lyrical sophistication. On an album mostly devoid of nuance, ‘Prove It All Night’ operates on multiple levels: the earthly, the divine, the here and now, and the long road of life.” ESS The “narrator spends the entire song trying to convince his girl to elope with him.” ESS He is “trying his best to get himself on the straight and narrow, to atone for past sins, and to build a good life for himself and his future wife.” ESS “When our narrator sings ‘Prove It All Night,’ he’s pledging to remain true and prove his love and fidelity for the remainder of their days.” ESS “We never even find out whether these two make it to the altar, whether they blow town, or if she even accepts his proposal at all. ‘Prove It All Night’ ends without resolution. For most of us, there’s no winning or losing, we just go on playing the game.” ESS

Darkness on the Edge of Town Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen Recorded: September to December 1977 (?) and March 8-10, 1978 at the Record Plant in New York Released: Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) Peak: 17 CL, 15 DF Click for codes to charts. About the Song: The title track is one of the “absolutely stellar standout tracks on the album.” ESS It “best accomplishes what the entire album is reaching for.” ESS “Addiction and resignation that whatever it is that’s hiding in the darkness that keeps our protagonist from moving forward, it’s something he’s not only unwilling but unable to leave behind, despite the wreckage it causes to his life and family.” ESS Musically, this “is an example of Bruce’s most meticulous and specific composing. The verses are as plodding as the narrators life; the choruses are violently defiant. Max’s snare separates and punctuates them like a snap of anger. And the coup de grace: the tambourine in the final version, conjuring up imagery of the narrator in chains, swinging a sledgehammer to Max’s drumbeat, and shuffling off toward the horizon as the song fades out, making it clear that the narrator will never escape his mire. Perfection.” ESS

Notes: A 2010 reissue saw the release of the The Promise, a collection of two discs of archival material recorded during the Darkness on the Edge of Town sessions. Resources/References: AM AllMusic.com review of Darkness on the Edge of Town by William Ruhlmann TJ AllMusic.com review of The Promise by Thom Jurek BL Blender (10/08). “100 Greatest American Albums” ESS EStreetShuffle.com MG Philippe Margotin & Jean-Michel Guesdon (2020). Bruce Springsteen – All The Songs: The Story Behind Every Track. Cassel (an imprint of Octopus Publishing Group Ltd.): Great Britain. WK Wikipedia Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/23/2008; last updated 8/4/2025.